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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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Selected Works

2015

Gesture

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Speech And Gesture In Classroom Interaction: A Case Study Of Angola And Portugal, Kerwin A. Livingstone Nov 2015

Speech And Gesture In Classroom Interaction: A Case Study Of Angola And Portugal, Kerwin A. Livingstone

Kerwin A. Livingstone

One of the principal reasons why human beings use language is to communicate. When they speak, however, they do not do so mechanically or robotically. There is usually a synergy between the speech act and certain parts of the body. As spoken utterances are produced, these body parts move, producing body actions that are visible, known as ‘visible bodily actions’. These visible bodily actions are done, using different body parts. The movement of the upper limbs are known as ‘gestures’. These gestures are more directly linked to speech. Regardless of their age, nationality, culture, background, or ethnicity, human beings gesture …

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Orangutan Pantomime: Elaborating The Message, Anne Russon, Kristin Andrews May 2015

Orangutan Pantomime: Elaborating The Message, Anne Russon, Kristin Andrews

Kristin Andrews, PhD

We present an exploratory study of forest-living orangutan pantomiming, i.e. gesturing in which they act out their meaning, focusing on its occurrence, communicative functions, and complexities. Studies show that captive great apes may elaborate messages if communication fails, and isolated reports suggest that great apes occasionally pantomime. We predicted forest-living orangutans would pantomime spontaneously to communicate, especially to elaborate after communication failures. Mining existing databases on free-ranging rehabilitant orangutans’ behaviour identified 18 salient pantomimes. These pantomimes most often functioned as elaborations of failed requests, but also as deceptions and declaratives. Complexities identified include multimodality, re-enactments of past events and several …

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Pantomime In Great Apes: Evidence And Implications, Ann E. Russon, Kristin Andrews Apr 2015

Pantomime In Great Apes: Evidence And Implications, Ann E. Russon, Kristin Andrews

Kristin Andrews, PhD

We recently demonstrated, by mining observational data, that forest-living orangutans can communicate using gestures that qualify as Pantomime. Pantomimes, like other iconic gestures, physically resemble their referents. More elaborately, pantomimes involve enacting their referents. Holding thumb and finger together at the lips and blowing between them to mean balloon is one example. Here we sketch evidence of pantomime in other great apes, methodological concerns, and sophisticated cognitive capabilities that great ape pantomimes suggest.

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